Not only did they claim they were not able to secure a TV deal, but I also recall them saying the fighter contracts weren't what they thought and that created some issues with signing fighters.
No what was cool is that there were fights that fans wanted to happen that were not happening. So the fact that Wand and Chuck were in the same promotion and the fight was going to happen was great. They tried to make it work before twice when they were in different orgs and it fell through. That was when they were both in their prime too. It was not great that Pride ultimately failed because thats what happened. They did great things but all the stuff going on behind the scenes was not sustainable. So if you want to get in your feelings and make it into someone is cheering the failing of another org thats on you braddah because thats not at all whats happening.
One of crappiest thing was seeing Henderson come in with two Pride titles and losing them both.
Yea. Was great zuffa showed him respect. Wish some of the new fans would educate themselves and watch some of his old scraps
I hear ya. Just really felt like that was one of the last remnants of Pride. Was really cool watching him walk out with the titles
The whole "Fedor never fought in the UFC" sentiment is way overblown, in my opinion. Fedor spend his best years in Pride, which had a much better HW roster than the UFC. Then he spent his declining years in Strikeforce, which arguably had a better (or at least comparable) HW roster than the UFC. All the while, he had 7 wins against former or future UFC HW champions while they were still relevant. Aside from the novelty of seeing him inside an octagon, I don't actually think we missed anything. I guess it would have been fun seeing him fight Randy; but I also think he would have walked through Randy at the time, so it doesn't feel like a great loss to me.
2006 Sakuraba would’ve been destroyed….why would you want to see that ?
Pride fc heavy weight roster much better then the ufc during those days
It’s all speculation but I tend to think they probably tried pretty hard. They spent a lot of money acquiring the brand and I tend to think no matter how much Dana may have been into burying his competition it doesn’t make much sense from a business standpoint to spend that kind of money for a fraction of the expected return.
I think there were fights that would have made sense. I dont think you put him against top 5 guys but there were fights that would have been fun.
Yea Vadim def has a history. I also know they used Fedor most his career at that time. Which was unfortunate just because of the type of person he seemed to be. Just super humble.
Dang I’d love to just sit down have a beer and pick your brain.
